Help and Advise please.

[NickFitz]

Hi I am new to the Contract game as ive always dome private work for myself.
I may have the chance to take my gang on to a building site to do a few month groundworks. The agency it is through does not pay self employed people as it goes through an umbrella company.

Is there a way round this at all so I dont have to pay a company to pay me?

If not then is it something I can use on a week to week or month to month basis without being tied it for say 12 months?


Thanks,
Kirk

As others say, we don't know much about contracting in the sphere of the building industry and how you might go about not having to use the agency's approach, but as far as the umbrella company is concerned there shouldn't be any tie-in beyond the period for which you use its services. An umbrella company is a weird combination of a payroll service provider (for which you pay the weekly fee) and an employer (which is how they handle the PAYE/NI aspect of things in return for their weekly fee) but, as with any service provider or employer, you can't be tied to work exclusively with or for them for any set duration unless you sign a contract to that effect. In IT, no umbrella company would expect you to sign such a contract; you can terminate your agreement with the brolly at any time, although the agency might whinge about having to change those parts of the arrangement that affect them.

As others have mentioned there are a number of tax issues that apply specifically to contracting in the building trade about which we on this forum know nothing, but the stuff Paddy links to above, together with Zippy's advice and Clare@InTouch's suggestion of consulting an accountant, will hopefully help you to work out the best approach. If in doubt, it's always worth a few bob getting advice from a professional accountant and/or tax advisor with experience in your line of work; it can work out cheaper than if you try to deal with it yourself and the taxman jumps on you at a later date.

Good luck moving your business forward - some people on here love the idea of being a "director" but wouldn't understand the concept of running a business with employees if it bit them on the backside

[Halo Jones]

All I know is CIS is a pain as when I want to pay a subbie I have to contact HMRC go through one of those lovely telephone option menu things, then answer loads of questions confirm that my professional rep is on the line if I lie just to get a reference number to find out if they are gross, net or net higher; all this regardles of if I am paying £5 or £5m; 'tis a pain

[Churchill]

All I know is CIS is a pain as when I want to pay a subbie I have to contact HMRC go through one of those lovely telephone option menu things, then answer loads of questions confirm that my professional rep is on the line if I lie just to get a reference number to find out if they are gross, net or net higher; all this regardles of if I am paying £5 or £5m; 'tis a pain

Could you devise a "Plan B" that would make the process easier...